The Green Card. Welcome to the Newsletter of the FBA s Immigration Law Section

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1 The Green Card Welcome to the Newsletter of the FBA s Immigration Law Section Larry Burman, Section Chair Quote of the Month Ultimately, America s answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired. Robert Kennedy uuu From the Editor This is our second issue of the Green Card. The February issue was well-received, but I need YOU to supply me with material. Since we have some of the top immigration minds in the nation (both Federal and private) among the members of our Section, that should not be difficult. Write about immigration-related events in your area, interesting trial decisions in the Immigration and Federal Courts, people coming and going in our profession, or pretty much anything. How did you feel about your first appearance in Immigration Court? What was your most exciting case? How do you think we can improve the operation of the courts and the legal profession? What about problems with notarios? Surely there is something that you want to say to your colleagues. Also, don t forget that we carry classified announcements free. If you are looking for an associate, or a job, if you would like to write briefs or make court appearances for out-of-town attorneys, or want to find a speaker for a seminar or brown-bag lunch, announce it here. I am especially interested in regular columns. Hopefully the brilliant Paul Schmidt and Jason Dzubow will become regulars. Maybe you will too! uuu News You Can Use MIAMI Immigration Judges Bruce W. Solow and Kenneth S. Hurewitz have retired. They will be missed. ROME Peggy McCormick of the Chicago Chapter has announced a seminar on international citizenship, to be conducted in Rome, Italy on May 25, See the brochure at Send your News You Can Use notices to Larry Burman at u In This Issue Imm i g r a t i o n Mu s i n g s The Muse Answers Questions About the Supreme Court s Judulang Decision... page 2 The Problem With Immigration Lawyers and How to Fix It, or Why We Need a Mandatory Immigration Bar Association... page 5 Prosecutorial Discretion: A Progress Report on Implementing New Guidelines and Policies... page 7 Super Circuit? Random Musings on 2011 s Top Twenty... page 8 April 2012 Published by the Immigration Law Section of the Federal Bar Association

2 Immigration Musings The Muse Answers Questions About the Supreme Court s Judulang 1 Decision Hon. Paul Wickham Schmidt Wh at d i d t h e Co u rt d o? The Court unanimously reversed the Board of Immigration Appeals ( BIA s ) so-called Blake rule requiring that a deportable respondent show a comparable ground of inadmissibility to obtain a discretionary waiver under former section 212(c) of the I&N Act. The Blake rule also is referred to as comparability analysis. Who wrote the Court s opinion? Justice Elena Kagan, the newest justice, wrote the opinion. Before joining the Court, Justice Kagan was the U.S. solicitor general, so presumably she is familiar with the BIA and its functions. What are the opinion s tag lines? The legal background of this case is complex, but the principle guiding our decision is anything but. When an administrative agency sets policy, it must provide a reasoned explanation for its action. That is not a high bar, but it is an unwavering one. Here, the BIA has failed to meet it. 2 Wh at is a 212(c) w a i v e r? As interpreted by the BIA and the courts, former 212(c) of the I&N Act operates as a broad-based waiver of inadmissibility and deportability for certain lawful permanent resident aliens who have been domiciled in the United States for seven or more years. Where applicable, it can waive deportability even for some aggravated felonies. Section 212(c) was repealed by Congress in It was replaced by a more limited waiver called cancellation of removal, which does not waive deportability for aggravated felonies. 4 However, the Supreme Court held that the 212(c) waiver remained available for respondents whose removal was based on a guilty plea tendered before April 24, 1996, the date of repeal. 5 What is the Blake rule? In Matter of Blake, 6 decided in 2005, the BIA held that for a deportable respondent (that is, one who has entered the United States) the 212(c) waiver may be granted only if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charges the respondent with a ground of deportability that also is a ground of inadmissibility. In other words, there must be a comparable ground of inadmissibility. The BIA found that Blake was ineligible for a 212(c) waiver because his charge of deportability, aggravated felony sexual abuse of a minor, was narrower than the closest ground of inadmissibility for crimes involving moral turpitude. Consequently, the BIA concluded that there was no comparable ground of inadmissibility for Blake. By contrast, in another case, the BIA concluded that the aggravated felony for drug trafficking was comparable to a ground of inadmissibility for drug trafficking. 7 Therefore, although a drug trafficker is also an aggravated felon (like Blake), a drug trafficker was eligible for a section 212(c) waiver while Blake and many other aggravated felons were not eligible because of the Blake rule. Ho w d i d t h e Bl a k e r u l e affect l aw f u l p e r m a n e n t r e s i d e n ts s e e k i n g r e e n t ry i n to t h e Un i t e d Stat e s a f t e r a t r i p a b roa d o r a p p ly i n g f o r r e a d j u s t m e n t o f s tat u s w h il e in t h e Un i t e d Stat e s? Under BIA rulings, the Blake rule had no effect on a lawful permanent resident seeking readmission to the United States following a trip abroad (an arriving alien ) or, analogously, a respondent seeking to readjust to permanent resident status though a new application filed while in the United States. 8 Because such individuals were only subject to the grounds of inadmissibility, not deportability, the comparability analysis did not apply. Ho w d i d t h e Bl a k e r u l e affect Mr. Ju d u l a n g, t h e Pe t i t i o n e r in t h e Su p r e m e Co u rt? Judulang was born in the Philippines and entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident in 1974, when he was eight years old. In 1988 he got in a serious fight which resulted in his pleading guilty to the crime of voluntary manslaughter, for which he received a 6-year suspended sentence and was released on probation. In 2005, the DHS charged him with being removable from the United States because he was deportable for having committed an aggravated felony crime of violence, specifically his 1988 voluntary manslaughter conviction. Judulang sought a waiver under 212(c). But, the BIA found that he was ineligible for such a waiver under the Blake rule because his ground of deportability, crime of violence, was not comparable to the inadmissibility ground for crimes involving moral turpitude or to any other ground of inadmissibility. 9 The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the BIA, 10 and the petitioner sought review in the Supreme Court. Wh at t e s t d i d t h e Su p r e m e Co u rt a p p ly in r e v i e w i n g t h e BIA s decision? The Court applied the arbitrary or capricious test set forth the in the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). This is interesting because in 1955 the Court had decided that the 2 The Green Card

3 hearing provisions of the APA are inapplicable to deportation proceedings. 11 The government argued that the Court should have applied a different test, known as the Chevron test. 12 In a footnote, the Court said that it would have reached the same result under Chevron. 13 Ho w d i d t h e BIA fa r e o n t h e Co u rt s t e s t? According to the Court, the BIA flunked that test: By hinging a deportable alien s eligibility for discretionary relief on the chance correspondence between statutory categories a matter irrelevant to the alien s fitness to reside in this country the BIA has failed to exercise its discretion in a reasoned manner. 14 Wh at a r g u m e n t s d i d t h e g ov e r n m e n t m a k e to d e f e n d t h e Blake rule? First, the government contended that the Blake rule was more faithful to the statute s language. 15 The Court rejected that argument, finding that the statute s language simply has nothing to do with deportation. 16 The statute refers only to a waiver of inadmissibility; its application to deportation grounds was the result of extra-textual decisions by the BIA and the attorney general. 17 Second, the government emphasized the Blake rule s vintage. 18 The Court s basic response was: Arbitrary agency action becomes no less so by simple dint of repetition. (To use a prior analogy, flipping coins to determine 212(c) eligibility would remain as arbitrary on the thousandth try as on the first.) 19 Finally, the government argued that the Blake rule saves time and money. 20 The Court also gave this short shrift: Cost is an important factor for agencies to consider in many contexts. But cheapness alone cannot save an arbitrary agency policy. (If it could, flipping coins would be a valid way to determine an alien s eligibility for a waiver.) 21 What happens next? The Court returned the case to the Ninth Circuit which, undoubtedly, will return it to the BIA with instructions to comply with the Court s decision. The Court s decision does not necessarily require that the BIA must give all deportable aliens meeting 212(c) s requirements the chance to apply for a waiver [but] the BIA cannot make that opportunity turn on the meaningless matching of statutory grounds. 22 According to the Court the BIA s approach must be tied, even if loosely, to the purposes of the immigration laws or the appropriate operation of the immigration system. A method for disfavoring deportable aliens that bears no relation to these matters that neither focuses on nor relates to an alien s fitness to remain in the country is arbitrary and capricious. 23 Consequently, fitness to remain in the country must be the keystone of any new approach by the BIA. Will the Immigration Courts be affected? Immigration judges may get motions to reopen from Musings continued on page 4 Section Leadership CHAIR Hon. Lawrence O. Burman Immigration Judge Executive Office for Immigration Review Arlington, VA VICE CHAIR H. Raymond Fasano Youman, Madeo & Fasano, LLP New York, NY TREASURER Eileen M.G. Scofield Counsel, Alston & Bird Atlanta, GA SECRETARY Hon. Mimi E. Tsankov Immigration Judge Executive Office for Immigration Review Denver, CO IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR Barry L. Frager The Frager Law Memphis, TN uuu The Green Card is published by the Federal Bar Association s Immigration Law Section, 1220 North Fillmore Street, Suite 444, Arlington, VA 22201, (571) , (571) fax. For more information about the section, please visit org/sections/immigration-law- Section.aspx. April

4 Musings continued from page 3 respondents who were Blaked in the past. However, many of those respondents probably appealed to the BIA, which would make the BIA the proper recipient of such motions in the first instance. Moreover, the number of deportable respondents who pleaded guilty before April 24, 1996, and thus could benefit from the Court s ruling in Judulang, is probably dwindling. Parties may also present to the immigration judges their views on how 212(c) should be applied to deportable respondents in the absence of definitive guidance from the BIA. The Court s use of the APA arbitrary and capricious standard might have some future impact on the BIA and the Courts of Appeals in their review of immigration cases, but is unlikely to have much direct impact at the trial level. 24 Wh at lesson c a n w e l e a r n f r o m t h e Co u rt s decision in Ju d u l a n g? Although immigration law might be complex, in this particular situation, the Court cut though the gobbledygook and applied common sense. 25 u Author s Note: These are my views, and they do not represent the official position of the attorney general, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Office of Chief Immigration Judge, the Federal Bar Association, my colleagues at the Arlington Immigration Court, or anyone else of any importance whatsoever. They also do not represent my position on any case that I decided in any capacity in the past, that is pending before me, or that might come before me in the future. They also are not legal advice and are not a substitute for reading the applicable statutes, regulations, precedents, and practice manuals. (6th Cir. 2009). 11 Marcello v. Bonds, 349 U.S. 302 (1955). 12 See Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984). 13 Judulang at 484 n Id. at 484 (emphasis supplied). 15 Id. at Id. At Id.; see, e.g., Matter of L-, 1 I&N Dec. 1 (AG 1940); Matter of Silva, 16 I&N Dec. 26 (BIA 1976), which in return was a response to Francis v. INS, 532 F.2d 268 (2d Cir. 1976). 18 Judulang at Id. 20 Id. at Id.at Id. at Id. at See generally Legal Action Center, Practice Advisory: Implications of Judulang v. Holder for LPRs Seeking 212(c) Relief and for Other Individuals Challenging Arbitrary Agency Policies, available online at org/sites/default/files/judulang-212-c-relief.pdf for an immigration advocacy group s view of some of the possible broader court challenges that Judulang might inspire. 25 Interestingly, Justice Kagan recently received a legal writing award from The Green Bag, the unconventional law review that honors exemplary legal writing every year, for her dissenting opinion in another case. The Blog of The Legal Times, Roberts, Kagan among Winners of Legal Writing Awards, available online at legaltimes.typepad.com/ (Dec. 20, 2011). En d n ot e s 1 Judulang v. Holder, 565 U.S., 132 S. Ct. 476 (2011). 2 Id. at 479m. 3 Repealed by 304(b) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA), Pub. L. No , 110 Stat Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) 240A(a), 8 U.S.C. 1229b(a). 5 INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 (2001). 6 Matter of Blake, 23 I&N Dec. 727 (BIA 2005), rev d, Blake v. Carbone, 489 F.3d 88 (2d Cir. 2007). 7 Matter of Meza, 20 I&N Dec. 257 (BIA 1991). 8 See Matter of Azurin, 23 I&N Dec. 695 (BIA 2005). 9 See Matter of Breiva-Perez, 23 I&N Dec. 766 (BIA 2005) (aggravated felony crime of violence has no inadmissibility counterpart). 10 Judulang v. Gonzales, 249 Fed. Appx. 499, 502 (9th Cir. 2007). Notably, only one Circuit, the Second, had rejected the Blake rule. Blake v. Carbone,489 F.3d 88 (2d Cir. 2007). In addition to the Ninth, three other Circuits, the First, Third and Sixth, had approved the BIA s interpretation. Kim v. Gonzales, 468 F.3d 58 (1st Cir. 2006); Caroleo v. Gonzales, 476 F.3d 158 (3d Cir. 2007); Koussan v. Holder, 556 F.3d The Green Card

5 Article The Problem With Immigration Lawyers and How to Fix It, or Why We Need a Mandatory Immigration Bar Association Jason Dzubow Pa rt 1: Im m i g r at i o n Ju d g e s The poor quality of the immigration bar is a much discussed topic in certain circles (I wrote about it). A recent study in the Cardozo Law Review that was featured last month in the New York Times provides an opportunity to discuss the situation, and give my two cents about how to improve representation for immigrants. According to the Times, The study was conducted by a group of lawyers and researchers under the auspices of Robert A. Katzmann, a federal appellate judge in New York City.... Judge Katzmann blames predatory lawyers who are not familiar with immigration law for much of the poor representation. The Times reports that immigration judges in the New York City area were surveyed, and they were less than pleased with the quality of the attorneys practicing in their courts. The judges said that 33% of immigrants have inadequate counsel and 14% have grossly inadequate counsel. The judges gave private lawyers the lowest grades, while generally awarding higher marks to pro bono counsel and those from nonprofit organizations and law school clinics. I believe that immigration judges bear some blame for the lawyers poor performance. Aside from the fact that I m a vindictive so-and-so who doesn t like judges dissing attorneys, why would I blame judges for attorney behavior? Let me explain. Immigration judges are bound by certain ethical rules, which are set forth in the Ethics and Professionalism Guide. The guide states that immigration judges like all DOJ attorneys have a duty to report allegations of misconduct by other Justice Department attorneys and a duty to report allegations of misconduct by non-department attorneys. See Un i t e d States Attorneys Ma n u a l (USAM), Chapters & ( Allegations of misconduct by non-doj attorneys or judges shall be reported to OPR [Office of Professional Responsibility] for a determination of whether to report the allegation to appropriate disciplinary officials. (emphasis added)). Thus, it is mandatory for IJs to report misconduct. According to IJs in New York, 14% of attorneys are grossly inadequate, meaning: They are often poorly prepared or make incoherent arguments in court. Some fail to present key evidence or witnesses. Others simply do not show up. Under the rules of the guide and the USAM, it seems pretty clear that immigration judges are duty-bound to report attorneys who engage in at least some of these bad practices. To the extent that IJs do not report such behavior, they are encouraging and enabling incompetent and/or dishonest attorneys to continue preying upon naive aliens. Based on my experience working at an immigration court and as a practitioner, everyone including the IJs knows who the bad actors are. I am not talking about attorneys of good will who periodically screw up. We all make mistakes. I am talking about attorneys who routinely fail to provide minimally competent work and who regularly destroy their clients chances to remain in the United States. Given many foreigners inexperience with our system and their fear of the authorities, it is critical that immigration judges report incompetent and dishonest lawyers to the appropriate disciplinary committees. When they fail to fulfill this duty, they allow the harmful conduct to continue. Part 2: Bar Association This is part two in a series of posts about the poor quality of immigration lawyers. A recent survey of judges opinions found that 33% of immigrants had inadequate counsel and 14% had grossly inadequate counsel. I previously wrote about how immigration judges could improve the situation by reporting incompetent and dishonest attorneys. Indeed, according to Justice Department rules, IJs are required to report such attorneys. Of course, reporting incompetent attorneys accomplishes little unless the disciplinary authorities i.e., the state bar associations actually impose sanctions where such punishment is appropriate. Although a large number of practitioners have been disciplined, given the current state of affairs, the bar associations are not doing enough to protect immigrants. Here are some thoughts on what bar associations could do to improve the situation: Bar associations should reach out to immigrant communities to help inform aliens about their right to competent counsel. This means providing information including information about how to report dishonest attorneys to various immigrant advocacy groups and encouraging those groups to translate and disseminate the information. Given that immigrants are particularly vulnerable to unscrupulous lawyers, bar associations should pay close attention to complaints filed in immigration cases. My sense is that the bar associations tend to protect lawyers, and that it is not easy to get disbarred (I hope I am not jinxing myself!). Bar associations need to take complaints seriously and, in the case of vulnerable populations (minors, immigrants, etc.), need to thoroughly investigate allegations of bad conduct. Another issue is that certain bars most notably New York Problem continued on page 6 March

6 Problem continued from page 5 and California allow people with a foreign law degree to sit for the bar after they receive an LLM. The requirements for admission to LLM programs are much less rigorous than for admission to JD programs, and thus graduates of these programs are not as familiar with the U.S. legal system as people who receive a JD degree at an accredited law school. New York, at least, has taken some modest steps to improve this situation. A final and more sweeping idea is to create a separate immigration bar association and require membership in order to practice before all immigration agencies. Volunteer immigration lawyers, who are knowledgeable about immigration law and who speak different languages, could serve on the disciplinary committee. This way, aliens could file complaints directly to the immigration bar association, and those complaints would be reviewed by people familiar with the system and who (probably) speak the alien s native language. Also, an immigration bar association could require legal education and ethics training. I don t think we ll see a mandatory immigration bar association any time soon, but I believe such an association would improve the quality of immigration attorneys. For now, we will have to rely on state bar associations however imperfect to protect immigrants. Pa rt 3: No ta r i os The now-defunct Syms clothing store had a slogan, An educated consumer is our best customer. Unfortunately, many asylum seekers and immigrants are not well educated about the immigration system or the attorneys and notarios who represent them (a notario, in the parlance of our times, is a non-lawyer who purportedly assists aliens with their immigration paperwork). Some notarios are honest and do excellent work; some are crooks who exploit an alien s naivete about the immigration system and steal their money. Although it is somewhat self-serving for an immigration lawyer (like me) to condemn notarios, I have seen many instances where a notario caused an alien to lose his case or where the notario took the alien s money and disappeared. Also, I am certainly not alone in my opinion: AILA has an over-the-top website called Stop Notario Fraud, and USCIS has a campaign explaining that the wrong help can hurt. Not to mention that it is illegal to provide legal representation unless you are an attorney or an authorized representative. In the asylum context, many applicants use notarios to help prepare their affirmative cases (the name for these helpers varies depending on the country of origin; for example, an Ethiopian notario is called an asterguami or translator). The notarios are known to embellish cases or to simply make up stories. There is no regulatory authority (like a bar association) to police the notarios, and though their activity is illegal, they are rarely caught. They also spread misinformation in their communities about how the asylum process works. For example, there are persistent (and contradictory) rumors in the Ethiopian community that well-educated asylum seekers are granted asylum because the United States needs talented people and also that the outcome of an asylum interview is random, so a well-prepared application is superfluous. So what does all this have to do with immigration lawyers? For one thing, when applicants have been educated by notarios in their communities to believe that the outcome of a case is random, or dependent on factors other than the fear of persecution, there is no incentive to hire a competent attorney. Indeed, the incentive is to hire the least expensive attorney available. Except in the case of nonprofits or pro bono counsel, such attorneys are not likely to provide the highest quality service. Since many aliens do not understand that a decent attorney can improve the chances for success in a case, incompetent attorneys are able to continue attracting clients despite a poor track record. In this case, a mis-educated consumer is their best customer. In addition, notarios can to a large degree control which attorneys their clients will hire after the notario loses the initial case and it is referred to an immigration judge. The notarios (who are not lawyers and cannot go to court) refer their unsuccessful clients to certain attorneys. As you might imagine, unscrupulous notarios refer their clients to unscrupulous attorneys. The current efforts to crack down on notario fraud are a good start, but those efforts largely ignore non-spanish speaking populations in general, and asylum seekers in particular. Advocacy organizations and the government should do more to address this problem. Stopping unscrupulous notarios will reduce asylum fraud and, indirectly, improve the quality of lawyers practicing immigration law. Pa rt 4: At to r n e y s If you have been reading this series of posts, you know that so far I ve blamed several people/organizations for the poor quality of immigration attorneys: immigration judges, bar associations, and notarios. I suppose some of the blame for bad attorneys might possibly perhaps maybe rest with the attorneys themselves (ourselves). So what s wrong with immigration attorneys? For one thing, most immigration attorneys are solo or work for small firms (I fit into this category). Therefore, the only real barrier to entry is to pass the bar. This is not a particularly high standard. Other areas of law where attorneys tend to be solo or small-firm practitioners also seem to have their fair share of problems: For example, there was a spate of incidents where criminal defense attorneys fell asleep during capital murder cases. Not that attorneys who work for large firms, large organizations or the government are necessarily better than small firm lawyers, but at least they are vetted by the employer before being hired. In a prior post I mentioned the idea of a mandatory immigration bar association. I believe that such an association would improve the practice of law by educating and regulating lawyers who practice before Immigration Courts and agencies. Problem continued on page 19 6 The Green Card

7 Event Recap Prosecutorial Discretion: A Progress Report on Implementing New Guidelines and Policies Feb. 10, 2012 Migration Policy Institute Speakers: Seth Grossman, deputy general counsel, DHS; Jim Stolley, director, field legal operations, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, ICE; Juan Osuna, director, EOIR; Crystal Williams, executive director, AILA; and Dorris Meissner, senior fellow, MPI, and former commissioner, INS (moderator) Su m m a ry Seth Grossman (DHS) described the prosecutorial discretion initiative as a response to the need to prioritize enforcement when the agency is only resourced to remove 400,000 individuals. He stated that the backlog of pending cases is a challenge that prevents the swift adjudication of priority individuals, and characterized the June 2011 memorandum from ICE Director John Morton as the framework document for prioritization. He stated that following the November 2011 guidance on case-by-case review from Principal Legal Advisor Peter Vincent, DHS intends to review all pending cases in the nationwide backlog and that the pilot projects in Baltimore and Denver were the result of a decision of an inter-agency working group. He stated that at those two sites, attorneys have completed a review of pending cases, but at all ICE offices, attorneys are conducting a review of incoming cases to ensure that non-priority cases do not enter the system and contribute to the backlog. He stated that the pilot initiatives have shown there to be lag time between ICE identifying a case as suitable for prosecutorial discretion and administrative closure because the respondent s attorney has to consider the offer and discuss it with a client before a joint motion can be filed and the proceedings eventually closed. Grossman stated that overall, the results have been very positive and DHS hopes to have numbers available soon. He described the program as an effort to balance between removal priorities and efficient use of DHS resources. He asserted that the agency remains very committed to reviewing the entire backlog and imagines that this will take several months, until the end of summer He stated that DHS is also trying to align its enforcement activities with its priorities, and that the priorities have influenced the practice of USCIS with regard to issuing discretionary NTAs, prioritization of high risk individuals by CBP, changes to the ICE detainer form, and a new transfer policy for detained individuals. He also described the newly created position of the ICE public advocate who will serve as a point of contact between individuals and ICE s Enforcement and Removal Operations. He reiterated that prosecutorial discretion was an efficient way to promote public safety, border security, and the integrity of the systems. Jim Stolley (ICE) further explained that the pilot initiatives in Baltimore and Denver were selected because of the relatively small case load which corresponded to nearly all pending files being stored on site, as well as a relatively small detained docket. He stated that these initiatives were different than the nationwide review insofar as the two immigration courts went dark on their non-detained docket and this allowed for a more focused review to take place. Stolley agreed with Grossman s characterization of the delay between an offer of prosecutorial discretion and administrative closure, adding that a background check needs to take place and that this is taking longer than anticipated. He stated that given the complexity of administrative closure, this will need to be explained adequately to pro se respondents. He affirmed that the pilots have completed a review of all files and stated that a new electronic mailbox would be set up to review requests for prosecutorial discretion. He agreed that the review should be complete at other courts by the end of summer 2012, stating that it started in earnest on Dec. 4, He stated that in the review process, individual ICE attorneys make an initial recommendation as to whether prosecutorial discretion should be exercised, but ultimately the chief or the deputy makes the decision about whether an offer will be extended. He stated that ICE has seen a general nationwide consistency amongst the assistant chief counsels in terms of applying the criteria in the memoranda to determining who should get prosecutorial discretion. He affirmed that even if prosecutorial discretion is declined, counsel can always add more information and request that ICE reconsider exercising discretion. Juan Osuna (EOIR) commended the prosecutorial discretion initiative as an ambitious act that reflected good policy. He noted that most other court systems have similar standards, and applauded the effort as an example of an interagency (ICE, CIS, CBP) and cross-agency (EOIR, OIL) approach. He stated that the NTA review process was particularly important because prosecutorial discretion would be the most effective and efficient early on. He also asserted that the review process is continuing at the BIA and the federal court levels as well. Osuna stated that this initiative has been accompanied by robust and targeted training within ICE. He discussed the role of DOJ, noting that the agency had been involved with early discussions on DHS, but cautioned that prosecutorial discretion remained solely within the authority of DHS. He stated that DOJ has significant equities in the process, both in terms of adjudication within EOIR and litigation within OIL. He stated that it is a dynamic process that varies by context, and that it will be important to look at the results of the pilot to inform the review process going forward. He stated that the success of the program will be visible if there are significant numbers of non-detained cases that are shifted. He stated that he anticipated evaluating feedback from the pilot programs as well. Osuna recognized the importance of developing mechanisms for those cases that do want to be heard, including specifically the asylum caseload, and evaluating the effectiveness of the NTA review. Crystal Williams (AILA) called prosecutorial discretion a courageous and complex move by the administration. She described some early lessons learned from the process, including the need for broadening the menu of options available for prosecutorial discretion beyond administrative closure. She Recap continued on page 19 March

8 Article Super Circuit? Random Musings on 2011 s Top Twenty Edward R. Grant The confusion wrought by the myriad inter-circuit conflicts in immigration law is exceeded perhaps only by the proposals to end that confusion. One idea is a super-circuit, consisting of judges selected periodically at random from the various geographical circuits, to adjudicate either all petitions for review or selected cases presenting clear conflicts among the circuits. Putting aside the constitutional, logistical, and budgetary obstacles to the super-circuit idea (and others), there is at least one precedent to ponder: the rise of the so-called super-conferences in college sports. Think of it: the Big East, nobly born in the First, Second, Third, and D.C. Circuits, will cover the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh, and has designs on the Tenth. (A wag might suggest that the conference should have stayed truly East by recruiting schools in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hanoi, or even Beirut and Jerusalem. Or that it trade names with Conference USA.) The Atlantic Coast Conference, which some say started the madness, has left the comfort zone of the Fourth and Eleventh Circuits to raid the First, Second, and Third Circuits. Looking west, you might think that the Fifth and Eighth Circuits would be space wide open enough to support its own super-conference. But with all the raiding and carpet-bagging from outside, the Big 12 is shrinking back to the size of the legacy Big 8 and must now extend its reach to Morgantown, W.V. Meanwhile, the Big 10 continues to strain the credulity of its collective math departments by expanding to 12, and eventually to 14 or 16. Pretty soon, therefore, women s volleyball and men s soccer teams will routinely criss-cross the nation, rubbing shoulders at the Starbucks and TGI Fridays at Hartsfield, O Hare, and DFW as they await connecting flights to their next games. Athletic department suits will no doubt anoint this as perfect training for their future lives in business. Only crew, with its ineluctable attachment to the bounds of natural geography, may escape this lunacy. So, on third thought, perhaps it is wisest to endure the vicissitudes of inter-circuit conflict and avoid grand schemes of reform. Circuit judges might get tired of TGI Fridays, and there is no TV money to drive the deal. Inconsistency among federal courts is generally not something to make light of, but the quest for perfect consistency is a sure route to madness for which a few moments of irreverence and levity are the perfect cure. In that spirit, we offer commentary on this year s Top 20 immigration decisions from the federal courts. The same criteria of complete arbitrariness and utterly nonreviewable abuse of discretion apply. Many of these cases have received full treatment in earlier columns, so pardon, in the interests of space, the numerous back references. Hopefully, though, we will provide an accurate snapshot of the year past. 20. A Ye a r Is a Ye a r Habibi v. Holder, 658 F.3d 977 (9th Cir. 2011): How many days are in a year? So begins Judge Bybee s decision for the Ninth Circuit, and a pertinent question as we head into The answer, he reminds us, is more complicated than it may first appear. The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, gives the correct answer as approximately days. To compensate, we add an extra day every fourth year; to not overcompensate, we exempt years at the end of a century except those divisible by four. Petitioner Jawid Habibi, convicted in 1999 of Battery of a Current or Former Significant Other in violation of (you guessed it) California law, argued that since he would serve his 365-day suspended sentence during one of those end-ofcentury years divisible by 4, he was therefore not convicted of a crime of violence for which the term of imprisonment [is] at least one year. Section 101(a)(43)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(43)(F). A sentence of 365 days, he contended, was not, at least in 2000, a sentence to one year. You might think the answer to Habibi s argument was obvious. In one sense, yes: the Ninth Circuit previously rejected the argument that a sentence to 365 days does not amount to a year because of that extra 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 1 second that it takes the Earth to complete its orbit. Matsuk v. INS, 247 F.3d 999 (9th Cir. 2001), overruled on other grounds, Delgado v. Holder, 648 F.3d 1095 (9th Cir. 2011) (en banc). However, in Lagandaon v. Ashcroft, 383 F.3d 983, 985 (9th Cir. 2004), the court held that a year, other than a leap year, is 365 days. That holding arose in the context of an alien who last entered the United States on May 14, 1987, and was served with his Notice to Appear on May 13, 1997 the 365th day of the 10th year. Reversing the Board of Immigration Appeals, Lagandaon held that the respondent had acquired 10 years of continuous physical presence prior to service of the notice to appear and thus was eligible for cancellation of removal under 8 U.S.C. 1229b(b)(1), because his presence on May 13, 1997, must be counted as completing 10 years of presence. The court rejected government arguments that the petitioner was several hours short of 10 years, noting that under the common law, it was the calendar, not the clock, that controlled, and fractions of a day are not considered. Lagandaon, 383 F.3d at Habibi concluded that a focus on the specific calendar for a given year would lead to arbitrary results: whether a 365-day leap year sentence counted as one year would depend on whether the sentence began on, for example, Feb. 1 or March 1 of that year. In the latter case, 365 days would bring one to 8 The Green Card

9 Feb. 28 of the following year, in the former, only to January 30. In calculating terms of years (the issue in Lagandaon), it makes sense to give equal measure to leap and conventional years otherwise, the same types of absurdities would arise, depending on how many of the years in question were leap years. However, in defining the length of a single year, the standard measure of 365 days is consistent with the common law and thus, in the court s view, entitled to deference. Habibi, 658 F.3d at The calendar was also the issue in Meza-Vallejos v. Holder, 660 F.3d 1083 (9th Cir. 2011), specifically, whether the expiration of a voluntary departure (VD) period on a Saturday warrants an extension of the period to file a motion to reopen to the following Monday. The court ruled in favor of the petitioner, concluding that where the VD period ends on a day where the board is not open to receive a motion, a motion filed the following Monday is timely. While the court termed the government s position reasonable, it concluded that enforcement of the strict time limit would deprive the alien whose VD period concludes on a weekend from the benefit of the full 60 days to file a motion seeking affirmative relief (which would otherwise be barred by application of the 10-year penalty for failing to depart during the 60-day period). Id. at ; 8 U.S.C. 1229c(d)(1). 19. Does Adjustment Constitute an Admission? Lanier v. U.S. Attorney General, 631 F.3d 1363 (11th Cir. 2011): An alien who has previously been admitted to the United States as an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence is subject to restrictions on eligibility for a waiver under 8 U.S.C. 1182(h): he or she must have 7 years of continuous residence and no convictions for an aggravated felony. In Lanier, the Eleventh Circuit joined the Fifth Circuit in holding that these restrictions do not apply to an alien who gained lawful permanent resident (LPR) status through adjustment of status even if the alien was never lawfully admitted to the United States in any status. As noted previously in these pages, it remains to be seen whether the trend is picked up in other circuits. See Edward R. Grant, Circuit Bracketology: Lots of Upsets, But No Clear Favorites, Im m i g r a t i o n La w Ad v i s o r, Vol. 5, No. 2, at 6, 9-10 (Feb. 2011). 17. & 18. (Tie) Do e s Pa ro l e Co n s t i t u t e a n Admission in An y Stat u s? Ho w Ab o u t a n Approved I-130 o r Em p l o y m e n t Au t h o r i z at i o n? Garcia v. Holder, 659 F.3d 1261 (9th Cir. 2011); Guevara v. Holder, 649 F.3d 1086 (9th Cir. 2011); Vasquez de Alcantar v. Holder, 645 F.3d 1097 (9th Cir. 2011): The question of admission continues to vex many courts, and these cases could easily justify a higher ranking but for the fact that they are riffs on a still-sui generis Ninth Circuit precedent expanding the concept of admission beyond the definition provided in 101(a)(15) of the act. See Garcia-Quintero v. Gonzales, 455 F.3d 1006 (9th Cir. 2006) (holding that an alien admitted into the Family Unity Program (FUP) was admitted in any status for purposes of establishing continuous residence). Garcia v. Holder extended the holding of Garcia-Quintero to an alien who was deemed paroled pursuant to 8 U.S.C. 1255(h)(1), for purposes of adjusting to LPR status as a Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ). Guevara and Vasquez de Alcantar declined to extend Garcia-Quintero to aliens with approved visa petitions or employment authorization documents. Taking the latter two cases first (because they were first decided), the Ninth Circuit distinguished the status of being a mere applicant for LPR status from the special protections legislated by Congress for those in the Family Unity Program. Both Vasquez and Guevara entered the U.S. illegally; both had applications for LPR status pending, which, if recognized as a trigger for admission in any status, would have conferred the requisite 7 years of continuous residence in 240A(a)(2) of the act. But merely applying for LPR status and receiving an approved I-130 (or Empolyment Authorization Document (EAD) pending adjudication) is not equivalent to FUP benefits. The FUP was created to allow eligible spouses or unmarried children of legalized aliens to apply for the benefits of the program, including protection from deportation and authorization to work in the United States. Though beneficiaries under the FUP and beneficiaries of I-130 visa petitions are provided similar benefits, such as the ability to remain in the United States and seek employment while awaiting adjustment to LPR status, participants in the FUP are provided congressionally mandated benefits, and must meet additional requirements for eligibility [including entry into the United States before May 5, 1988]. Thus, the mere approval of an I-130 visa petition (without more) is not the equivalent of participation in the FUP. Vasquez de Alcantar, 645 F.3d at 1104 (citations omitted); accord Guevara, 649 F.3d at 1093 ( [T]he FUP was enacted by Congress to assist a very narrow group of aliens. [I]t set forth heightened standards of eligibility [and] was enacted to prevent the separation of families. (citations omitted)). The circumstances of the petitioner in Garcia v. Holder were distinct from those of the ordinary illegal entrant or overstay who claims eligibility for adjustment of status. Garcia entered the United States in 1992 at age 9, after enduring a tragic early childhood, including serious physical injury. He quickly passed into the California foster care system, was declared a dependent of the juvenile court in 1994, and by court order, was assisted by child services officials with his application for LPR status as an SIJ, filed in His application was granted in Five years later, he committed two theft offenses and was placed into removal proceedings in The DHS contended that he was ineligible for cancellation of removal under 240A(a) of the act because he had not resided in the United States continuously for 7 years after having been admitted in any status. The immigration judge and the board agreed. The Ninth Circuit reversed, concluding that SIJ parolees are similarly situated to FUP participants because they form a narrow class of juvenile aliens who must meet height- Top Twenty continued on page 10 March

10 Top Twenty continued from page 9 ened eligibility requirements, including a court declaration that they are eligible for long-term foster care due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. The judge must also determine that it is not in the juvenile s interests to return to his or her home country, and those in SIJ status enjoy special protections enacted by Congress. Garcia, 659 F.3d at In short, the court concluded, aliens with SIJ status, like those in the FUP, form a narrow class of aliens with strong claims to remain in this country; those applying for an I-130 or adjustment of status are a far broader group with weaker claims. Id. at Why this difference translates to a holding that the former class has been admitted remains not entirely clear the qualifier admitted in any status in 240A(a) (2) of the act refers most plausibly to the many nonimmigrant and immigrant statuses in which an alien can be admitted, as defined in 101(a)(15). Thus far, no other circuit has addressed the question in a published decision. Finally, in an analogous ruling rejecting an alien s claim to have been paroled, the Ninth Circuit held that presence under an order of departure control issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not constitute any form of lawful presence. The alien, therefore, who had entered illegally and had overstayed a grant of voluntary departure, was illegally or unlawfully in the United States for purposes of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(5)(A) (possession of a firearm by an illegal alien). United States v. Anaya-Acosta, 629 F.3d 1091 (9th Cir. 2011). See Edward R. Grant and Patricia M. Allen, Speaking of Parole: Who s In, and Who s Out, Im m i g r a t i o n La w Ad v i s o r, Vol. 5, No. 1, at 7, 9-10 (Jan. 2011). 16. Do Ad j u s t e d o r Ad m i t t e d LPRs En j o y a Stat u t e o f Limitations o n Re m o va l Pro c e e d i n g s? Alhuay v. U.S. Attorney General, 661 F.3d 534 (11th Cir. 2011); Malik v. Attorney General of U.S., 659 F.3d 253 (3d Cir. 2011): The Eleventh Circuit in Alhuay rejected the Third Circuit s ruling in Garcia v. Attorney General, 553 F.3d 724 (3d Cir. 2009), that the 5-year period for administrative rescission of adjustment of status in 246(a) of the act, 8 U.S.C. 1256(a), constitutes a statute of limitation against bringing deportation charges based on an improperly obtained adjustment. Here the trend is getting clearer: Alhuay accurately describes Garcia as an outlier because five circuits have now held that 246(a) does not establish a statute of limitation applicable in deportation or removal proceedings. Alhuay, 661 F.3d at & n.10. In Malik, the Third Circuit clarified that its rule in Garcia applies only to aliens who have adjusted their status to that of a lawful permanent resident. Aliens who are admitted in LPR status through the consular process are not subject at all to 246(a) of the act and thus cannot claim the 5-year statute of limitations against the institution of removal proceedings. 15. Th e Wag e s o f Cry i n g Du e Pro c e s s Portillo-Rendon v. Holder, No , 2011 WL (7th Cir. Nov. 7, 2011): To establish eligibility for cancellation of removal under 240A(b) of the act, an alien must demonstrate good moral character (GMC) during the requisite 10 years of continuous physical presence. The petitioner in Portillo-Rendon was found to fall short in this category as a result of numerous convictions for drunk driving and driving sans license. The Seventh Circuit rejected his argument that the GMC determination was subject to plenary review as a question of law. While GMC is a statutory requirement, it is not defined in the Act, and thus, the decision whether an alien has the required character reflects an exercise of administrative discretion. Id. at *1. Continuing, the court noted that [t]he IJ and BIA thought that this record shows poor moral fiber; that is a discretionary call and thus is not subject to judicial review. Id. Judge Easterbrook, writing for the court, was not quite finished. Portillo-Rendon raised a nonspecific due process claim, the sort of flabby, unfocused argument that we have deprecated. Id. at 2. Without a liberty or property interest which is not present in an application for discretionary relief from removal there is no legitimate claim of entitlement ; hope for a favorable exercise of administrative discretion does not qualify. Id. Still not done, Judge Easterbrook continued: Why lawyers in immigration cases continue to be fascinated by the due process clause bewilders us for it is appropriate to consider the Constitution only if the statute and regulations are deficient. Congress has given aliens significant procedural entitlements. See 8 U.S.C. 1229a. Regulations have added more. Portillo-Rendon does not contend that these entitlements are constitutionally deficient. Nor does he contend that the agency failed to provide him with all process required by the statute and regulations with respect to his moral character. If the agency should fall short, then 1252(a)(2)(D) would allow us to provide relief on statutory grounds; the lack of a constitutional liberty or property interest would not matter. This is yet another reason why aliens who have procedural objections to the handling of their cases should rely on the statute and the regulations rather than intoning due process in the hope that it will cover all bases. It won t. Id. 14. Continuances and Abuse of Discretion Simon v. Holder, 654 F.3d 440 (3d Cir. 2011), and Freire v. Holder, 647 F.3d 67 (2d Cir. 2011): While Portillo-Rendon cautions against diffuse due process claims, Simon and Freire are reminders that the Federal courts take seriously claims that the Board has failed to follow its own precedents in these cases, involving motions for continuance pending adjudications for immigrant status before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Simon held that by denying a continuance solely on grounds that the future availability of a visa number is speculative, the board abused its discretion by violating its 10 The Green Card

11 holdings in Matter of Hashmi, 24 I&N Dec. 785 (BIA 2009), and Matter of Rajah, 25 I&N Dec. 127, 130 (BIA 2009), that visa availability is but one of several factors that must be considered. Simon, 654 F.3d at 441, 443. Visa availability is one part of the Hashmi-Rajah analysis [which includes factors such as the prima facie validity of the visa petition, the DHS response, the alien s immigration history, and discretion]. Once an immigration judge considers all of the Hashmi-Rajah factors, including visa availability, he or she has the discretion to deny a continuance where visa availability is too speculative; but this should only be done after all of the factors are considered. The BIA, in this context as in others, must follow its own precedents, unless it makes a reasoned determination to change or adapt its policy. Id. at 443. The court noted that the number of continuances already granted was factored in by the immigration judge. The respondent had two approved visa petitions, an I-140 and an I-130, misleadingly referred to by the court as an immediate relative petition (were it truly such a petition, the visa would be immediately available). But the failure to explicitly discuss the other Hashmi-Rajah factors was fatal. Freire reversed a board decision, issued prior to Hashmi, that declined to grant a continuance pending adjudication by the USCIS of the petitioner s (an arriving alien) application for adjustment of status. The board wrote: [W]e cannot find it within our authority to grant relief based on an application over which we ultimately have no jurisdiction. To do so would leave us open to the whims and time lines of other agencies which might or might not communicate the outcome of a particular application to us. Freire, 647 F.3d at 69 (quoting the board s decision). Following its decision in Sheng Gao Ni v. Board of Immigration Appeals, 520 F.3d 125 (2d Cir. 2008), the court held that board s reluctance, as a general practice, to grant continuances pending USCIS adjustment proceedings failed to give due consideration to the specific facts in the petitioner s case. Freire, 647 F.3d at 71. Absent a clear rationale based on the record, the board abused its discretion in denying the motion to remand for proceedings to be continued. Id. 13. Must a Conviction Be Final? Planes v. Holder, 652 F.3d 991 (9th Cir. 2011): In the wake of the 1996 amendment adding the definition of conviction to the act, debate has persisted over whether a criminal conviction must be final with all appeals of right exhausted before it can constitute grounds for removal. Section 101(a) (48)(A) of the act (providing that conviction means that a court has entered a formal judgment of guilt of the alien ); see also Matter of Punu, 22 I&N Dec. 224 (BIA 1998). Faced with this question in Planes, the Ninth Circuit had no difficulty resolving it. Since the plain language of 101(a)(48) (A) includes no requirement other than formal adjudication of guilt, there is no corollary requirement that all appeals be exhausted or waived. Other circuits had previously so held or indicated, but Planes makes this the functional majority view throughout the country. See Puello v. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Serv., 511 F.3d 324, 332 (2d Cir. 2007); United States v. Saenz-Gomez, 472 F.3d 791, 794 (10th Cir. 2007); Montenegro v. Ashcroft, 355 F.3d 1035, 1037 (7th Cir. 2004); Griffiths v. INS, 243 F.3d 45, (1st Cir. 2001); Moosa v. INS, 171 F.3d 994, 1009 (5th Cir. 1999). 12. Is the BIA Appeal Deadline Jurisdictional? Henderson ex rel. Henderson v. Shinseki, 131 S. Ct (U.S. 2011); Irigoyen-Briones v. Holder, 644 F.3d 943 (9th Cir. 2011): The board held in Matter of Liadov, 23 I&N Dec. 990 (BIA 2006), that it lacked authority to extend the regulatory 30-day time limit for filing an appeal from a decision of an immigration judge and that a short delay by an overnight delivery service was not a rare or extraordinary event that would warrant consideration of an untimely appeal on certification. 8 C.F.R (c). The board rejected the Ninth Circuit s suggestion, in Oh v. Gonzales, 406 F.3d 611 (9th Cir. 2005), that it had broader discretionary authority to waive the time limit. Liadov, 23 I&N Dec. at 993. The board also relied, in part, on Supreme Court rulings that filing deadlines must be strictly applied. United States v. Locke, 471 U.S. 84 (1985). In the wake of Irigoyen-Briones, the Liadov rule is a dead letter in the Ninth Circuit; in the wake of Henderson, the rule may warrant more thorough-going reconsideration. Some background is warranted. In 1990, Congress authorized the attorney general to issue regulations setting time limits for administrative appeals in deportation proceedings. Immigration Act of 1990, Pub. L. No , 545(d)(2), 104 Stat. 4978, The then-current deadline, 10 days, was held in 1994 to violate due process. Gonzalez-Julio v. INS, 34 F.3d 820 (9th Cir. 1994). Regulations issued in 1996 lengthened the appeal period to 30 days and provided for direct filing (by mail, courier, or hand-delivery) at the board. Since that time, board decisions dismissing untimely appeals have been treated as jurisdictional in nature; hence, the board accepts motions in such cases only if they pertain to the lateness of the appeal. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has issued a recent series of decisions clarifying that time limits analogous to the board s appeal period are claims-processing rules rules that promote the orderly progress of litigation not jurisdictional limitations. Courts, including this Court, it is true, have been less than meticulous in this regard; they have more than occasionally used the term jurisdictional to describe emphatic time prescriptions in rules of court. Clarity would be facilitated if courts and litigants used the label jurisdictional not for claim-processing rules, but only Top Twenty continued on page 12 Winter

12 Top Twenty continued from page 11 for prescriptions delineating the classes of cases (subject-matter jurisdiction) and the persons (personal jurisdiction) falling with a court s adjudicatory authority. Kontrick v. Ryan, 540 U.S. 443, (2004); see also Arbaugh v. Y&H Corp., 546 U.S. 500 (2006); Scarborough v. Principi, 541 U.S. 401, 414 (2004). But see Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 214 (2007) (stating that time limit for appeals to federal circuit courts of appeals is mandatory and jurisdictional). Henderson followed this line, holding that the 120-day statutory deadline for filing an appeal with the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims was not jurisdictional. The Court held that no magic words were required to make a time limit jurisdictional, but that the context of the time limit, and prior judicial rulings, are relevant. The Court unanimously held that because the 120-day time limit was not couched in jurisdictional terms and appeared in a subchapter labeled Procedure, it should not be considered jurisdictional in nature. The Court also concluded that the harsh consequences imposed by a jurisdictional rule would be inconsistent with the overall scheme of veterans benefits adjudication. Henderson, 131 S. Ct. at Relying on Henderson and its antecedents, Irigoyen-Briones held, first, that Liadov (without using the word jurisdiction ) had stated a rule of jurisdiction and, second, that the rule could not be sustained. There is no ambiguous statute that would entitle the [board] to deference, just an administrative claim-processing rule that must be treated as non-jurisdictional. Irigoyen-Briones, 644 F.3d at 949. The court then rejected, with just a trace of irony, the board s exhortation that an appeal should be filed as far in advance as possible. Liadov, 23 I&N Dec. at 992. In this case, the court determined, the board abused its discretion by not granting an exception where the appeal was sent on the 29th day via Postal Service overnight delivery, but the USPS failed to deliver until day 31. The alien owns the thirty days, and all of them are likely to be essential. Aliens appeals are not, by and large, handled by giant spare-no-expense law firms, in which a partner can command a senior associate who can command a junior associate to have something on his desk by 9:00 a.m. Monday without fail, and then fly a courier to Washington, D.C., to assure timely filing in Falls Church. The record here describes the details of a typical case. The pro se alien had lost his case before the IJ just before Christmas and came to a lawyer s office during her first appointment slot right after New Year s. The lawyer could not do anything without listening to the Immigration Court s tapes, and the alien needed a few days to raise the money for her retainer. As is common, all thirty days were reasonably necessary for the task [of preparing the appeal]. An appellant who has deposited his notice of appeal to the BIA with the U.S. Postal Service or an approved carrier the day before it is due, for guaranteed next-day delivery, has done all that reasonable diligence requires. Requiring some uncertain earlier date would deprive him both of notice of the due date and of time often necessary to perform the necessary work. Irigoyen-Briones, 644 F.3d at 950 (footnote omitted). The court concluded by exhorting the Board to adopt electronic filing. Id. at Is Possession Wi t h In t e n t to Deliver a Cat e g o r i c a l Dru g Trafficking Offense? Moncrieffe v. Holder, No , 2011 WL (5th Cir. Nov. 14, 2011); Garcia v. Holder, 638 F.3d 511 (6th Cir. 2011): Under the hypothetical federal felony approach to determining whether a state drug offense is a drug trafficking crime as defined in 18 U.S.C. 924(c), and thus an aggravated felony, a circuit split has emerged in cases involving state convictions for possession with intent to distribute marijuana. There is clearly a federal analogue to such offenses: the felony offense described in 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1) (criminalizing possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance). The question is whether the federal misdemeanor exemption for distribution, with no remuneration, of small amounts of marijuana requires the DHS to establish that a state conviction was not for such less culpable conduct. 21 U.S.C. 841(b) (4) (providing that nonremunerative distribution is treated as misdemeanor possession); compare Julce v. Mukasey, 530 F.3d 30, (1st Cir. 2008) (stating that 841(b)(4) does not create a stand-alone misdemeanor offense, but is a mitigating sentencing provision), with Martinez v. Mukasey, 551 F.3d 113 (2d Cir. 2008), and Jeune v. Att y Gen., 476 F.3d 199 (3d Cir. 2007) (both holding that state possession with intent offenses could not be categorical aggravated felonies because the least culpable conduct might have included small distribution for no remuneration). The circuit split took another swing in 2011, with both Moncrieffe and Garcia joining the First Circuit and finding the offenses at issue to be drug-trafficking crimes. The flaw in the least culpable conduct approach, both courts held, is that the default sentencing provision for possession with intent to distribute marijuana is the felony provision of 18 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(D), not the misdemeanor provision in 841(b)(4). It is the defendant s burden to produce mitigating evidence to qualify for misdemeanor treatment. Garcia, 638 F.3d at 516. Notably, both the Fifth and Sixth Circuits relied on their own criminal jurisprudence in making this determination; they reasoned that in a hypothetical federal prosecution for the same conduct leading to the state convictions, the aliens in question would have borne the burden of establishing eligibility for the misdemeanor exemption. Other circuits may well get into the scrap, but the battle lines of a clear circuit split are now firmly entrenched. 10. Do e s t h e Bu r d e n Sh i f t f o r Criminal Al i e n s Se e k i n g Discretionary Relief? Rosas-Castaneda v. Holder, 655 F.3d 875 (9th Cir. 2011); 12 The Green Card

13 Salem v. Holder, 647 F.3d 111 (4th Cir. 2011); Young v. Holder, 634 F.3d 1014 (9th Cir. 2011), reh g en banc granted, 653 F.3d 897 (9th Cir. 2011): In Matter of Almanza, 24 I&N Dec. 771 (BIA 2009), the board aimed to harmonize the law regarding an alien s burden of proof to establish eligibility for discretionary relief where the alien has suffered a conviction that might or might not be a disqualifying offense. Almanza held that submission of an inconclusive record of conviction does not meet the alien s burden; it distinguished the Ninth Circuit s ruling to the contrary in Sandoval-Lua v. Gonzales, 499 F.3d 1121 (9th Cir. 2007), as having been issued before the REAL ID Act s clarification of the respondent s burden of proof. 8 U.S.C. 1229a(c)(4). As reported earlier, the Ninth Circuit in Young and Rosas- Castaneda rejected the argument that section 240(c)(4) trumps Sandoval-Lua. See Grant, Circuit Bracketology, supra, at 6, 7. While Almanza was addressed in neither decision (although it is considered in the dissenting opinion in Rosas- Castaneda), its reasoning was implicitly addressed and was found wanting. The Almanza rule fared better in the Fourth Circuit, which held in May that an alien s presentation of an inconclusive record of his conviction for larceny did not meet his burden to establish that he was not convicted of an aggravated felony theft offense and was thus eligible for cancellation of removal under 240A(a) of the act. Salem, 647 F.3d at 14 (finding a larceny statute divisible because it punished acts of fraud as well as theft). Once again, a circuit split has developed: Salem followed the reasoning of the Tenth Circuit, which held in 2009 that the plain language of 240A(a)(3) and 240(c)(4) (A)(i) of the act required the petitioner to demonstrate his eligibility for relief by proving his conviction was not for an aggravated felony. Garcia v. Holder, 584 F.3d 1288 (10th Cir. 2009). Garcia held that presentation of an inconclusive record of conviction would effectively nullify the prescribed burden of proof, even if the ambiguity in the record of conviction is not the fault of the alien. Id. at One suspects there will be further development on this frequently litigated question. Perhaps a playoff? 9. Th e De pa rt u r e Ba r Ta k e s Its Fi n a l Bo w s? Luna v. Holder, 637 F.3d 85 (2d Cir. 2011): Like an aging diva playing to dwindling audiences, the departure bar (barring the pursuit of motions and appeals by aliens who have left the United States) forces a smile and takes its bows. Luna is just one of many cases, the others being chronicled previously in these pages, signaling that it is about time for the show to be over. See Edward R. Grant and Patricia M. Allen, When Cousins Are Two of a Kind, Im m i g r a t i o n La w Ad v i s o r, Vol. 5, No. 7, at 5, 8-9 (Aug. 2011); Grant, Circuit Bracketology, supra at Luna addressed the departure bar question in a unique context: the petitioner sought extension of the 30-day deadline for filing a petition for review (which, as discussed above, is both mandatory and jurisdictional), citing ineffective assistance of counsel. Enforcement of the deadline, the petitioner continued, would violate the Suspension Clause, because it would deprive him of any opportunity to raise plausible claims of constitutional violations in his removal proceedings (a petition for review being, by statute, the sole and exclusive means of challenging a final order of removal in federal court). Luna, 637 F.3d at 86. The government contended that the statutory motion to reopen process before the board provided an opportunity for constitutionally adequate review. Specifically, an alien deprived of federal court review due to negligence of counsel could ask the board to reopen the proceedings and issue a new decision, thus starting a new clock for purposes of the 30-day deadline. Should the board deny the motion, that decision could also be appealed by filing a timely petition for review. Id. at 89. Appointed counsel for the petitioner agreed in principle but noted that the government could defeat the process by removing the alien and invoking the departure bar at 8 C.F.R (d). Id. Likewise, the board could tailor its denials of such motions to reopen as discretionary, thus eliminating or reducing the right of meaningful review in federal court. The Second Circuit agreed with both arguments and thus joined the clear majority of circuits concluding that the departure bar regulation is not jurisdictional and cannot obviate the statutory right to a motion to reopen. For a motion to reopen to be a constitutionally adequate substitute for habeas, it cannot be subject to manipulation by the Government. Id. at 99. The board s holding in Matter of Armendariz-Mendez, 24 I&N Dec. 646 (BIA 2008), wrongfully contracted the jurisdiction given by Congress to address motions to reopen, because Congress did not make that jurisdiction depend on the alien s presence in the United States or provide that jurisdiction was withdrawn upon a movant s departure. Luna, 637 F.3d at The court also concluded that since timely motions to reopen are statutory (and that timeliness is subject to equitable tolling), the board may not address time solely on discretionary grounds. Constitutional claims and alleged errors of law would also be decided de novo by the court of appeals, thus preserving the petitioner s right to a constitutionally adequate review of such claims. Id. at Ni n t h Circuit Di tc h e s Fe d e r a l Fi r s t Offender Ac t Limitation on Drug-Related Charges Nunez-Reyes v. Holder, 646 F.3d 684 (9th Cir. 2011) (en banc), overruling Lujan-Armendariz v. INS, 222 F.3d 728 (9th Cir. 2000), and Romero v. Holder, 568 F.3d 1054 (9th Cir. 2009): The Ninth Circuit s rule in Lujan-Armendariz, treating first-time drug offenders with expunged convictions as not having been convicted of a controlled substance offense for purposes of the act, did not travel well. No other circuit adopted the rule, and even within the Ninth, the rule was never extended to cases other than those analogous to the federal First Offender Act. See Grant and Allen, When Cousins Are Two of a Kind, supra, at The full impact of this change, however, may not be felt until long after some of us take retirement: the Ninth Circuit made the new rule entirely prospective, meaning that it applies only to controlled sub- Top Twenty continued on page 14 Winter

14 Top Twenty continued from page 13 stance convictions entered after the date of the decision. Two sets of rules, therefore, will continue to be the modus operandi for our courts in the Pac-12 (excluding Denver, that is). 7. Pa s t Pe rs e c u t i o n Ca p r i c i o u s Ad j u d i c at i o n? Or La n d m a r k De c i s i o n s? Stanojkova v. Holder, 645 F.3d 943 (7th Cir. 2011): The Big 10 may no longer be the definitive heart and soul of college football (too many fast guys in the Fifth, Eleventh, and Ninth), but it always manages to land a few teams in the top 20. So, too, the Seventh Circuit, often on style points alone. Judge Easterbrook s take on due process (Number 15, above) is surpassed in sheer reach by Judge Posner s critique of the capricious adjudication of claims of past persecution both by the board and by the federal courts. Id. at 949. The Seventh s sister circuits might disagree. See Grant, When Cousins Are Two of a Kind, supra at 9-10; Edward R. Grant and Patricia M. Allen, Enchanted April: Love, Hope, and Section 212(c) All Spring Eternal, Im m i g r a t i o n La w Ad v i s o r, Vol. 5, No. 4, at 3-4, (Apr. 2011). As discussed in Enchanted April, the Ninth Circuit issued decisions on two critical past persecution issues: where the alleged persecution must take place, and whether purely private persecution is cognizable for purposes of the act. Castro- Martinez v. Holder, 641 F.3d 1103 (9th Cir. 2011) (holding that sexual abuse was not past persecution where the acts were not inflicted by government actors and the petitioner failed to establish that reporting to the police would have been futile), amended and superseded on denial of reh g, No , 2011 WL (9th Cir. Dec. 5, 2011); Gonzalez-Medina v. Holder, 641 F.3d 333 (9th Cir. 2011) (holding that domestic abuse that occurred in the United States cannot constitute past persecution). Family abuse claims, sadly, are often based on events on both sides of the border, and acts of private persecution are frequently the basis of asylum and withholding claims. Gonzalez-Medina and Castro-Martinez, while not addressing the precise issue (the level of harm) addressed in Stanojkova, might prove to have more enduring influence, perhaps even as landmarks. 6. The Exclusionary Rule, Further Clarified Garcia-Torres v. Holder, 660 F.3d 333 (8th Cir. 2011); Lopez-Gabriel v. Holder, 653 F.3d 683 (8th Cir. 2011); see also Martinez-Medina v. Holder, No , 2011 WL (9th Cir. Mar. 11, 2011), superseding 616 F.3d 1011 (9th Cir. 2010): The constrictions on an alien s ability to suppress evidence of alienage and identity in removal proceedings are, as previously discussed, not analogous to the TV version of Fifth Amendment suppression motions. Edward R. Grant and Patricia M. Allen, Life Does Not Always Imitate Television: The Exclusionary Rule in Immigration Proceedings, Immigration Law Advisor, Vol. 5, No. 3, at 6 (Mar. 2011). The subsequent decisions in Garcia-Torres and Lopez-Gabriel further clarify that not every violation of the Fourth Amendment will result in exclusion of evidence relating to immigration status. The petitioner in Garcia-Torres was arrested after police officers entered his restaurant, without a warrant, on complaint of after-hours drinking. No charges were filed, but after the arrest, he was transferred to ICE, presumably because local police believed he was a foreign national without evidence of status. An interview with the ICE officers confirmed this, and he was placed in proceedings. Garcia-Torres, 660 F.3d at The Eighth Circuit agreed with the board that suppression of the evidence, on grounds of the warrantless entry and arrest, was not required. Petitioner points to nothing more than a warrantless entry of business premises and arrest, mere garden-variety error, if a Fourth Amendment violation at all. [E]ven assuming that the search and seizure here constituted a violation of the Fourth Amendment, any such violation is not egregious. Id. at The evidence was thus admissible to establish alienage and removability. The petitioner in Lopez-Gabriel, stopped according to police reports for driving a car with a heavily cracked windshield, was found not to have a valid driver s license or identification; he had been previously cited for the same violation. He claimed that his subsequent arrest was based on his Latino appearance and that, otherwise, he would have been allowed to pay a fine and go home. He also claimed that subsequent interrogations by ICE officers, done at the local jail, were conducted under duress because he was in custody and had not been given Miranda warnings. The Eighth Circuit concluded: The case for exclusion of evidence is even weaker where the alleged misconduct was committed by an agent of a separate sovereign [the local police]. If evidence were suppressed in a federal civil immigration proceeding, any deterrent effect on a local police officer would be highly attenuated. Especially where, as here, there is no evidence that federal officers participated in the allegedly unconstitutional seizure, or that the state officer making the seizure acted solely on behalf of the United States, we doubt that even an egregious violation by a state officer would justify suppression of evidence in a federal immigration proceeding. Lopez-Gabriel, 653 F.3d at 686 (emphasis added) (citations omitted). Finally, the court concluded that since there was no objective basis for the petitioner s claim that he was stopped on account of his Hispanic appearance, he was not entitled to a hearing before the Immigration Judge on the claim, particularly in light of the police report establishing the ostensible cause for the traffic stop and arrest. Id. at Ca n An t i-ga n g Witnesses, a n d Th e i r Families, Be a Particular Social Group? Garcia v. Attorney General of U.S., No , 2011 WL (3d Cir. Nov. 28, 2011); Crespin-Valladares v. Holder, 632 F.3d 117 (4th Cir. 2011); Demiraj v. Holder, 631 F.3d 194 (5th Cir. 2011): As we discussed in our February issue, Crespin-Valladares established that the relatives of those who opposed gangs by agreeing to be prosecution wit- 14 The Green Card

15 nesses, and who suffered persecution on account of their family ties, constitute a cognizable particular social group (PSG).8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42)(A), 1158(b)(1)(A); Grant, Circuit Bracketology, supra at 7-8. Garcia extended PSG status to those who testify as prosecution witnesses. The petitioner, the Third Circuit concluded, shares a common, immutable characteristic with other civilian witnesses who have the shared past experience of assisting law enforcement against violent gangs that threaten communities in Central America. It is a characteristic that members cannot change because it is based on past conduct that cannot be undone. To the extent that members of this group can recant their testimony, they should not be required to do so. Garcia, 2011 WL , at *6 (quoting Matter of Acosta, 19 I&N Dec. 211, 233 (BIA 1985)). The facts in Garcia established a pervasive series of threats against the petitionerwitness, extending to her time in witness protection in her native Guatemala, her period as a refugee in Mexico, and her presence in the United States. The board and other circuits, notably the Second and Ninth, have been reluctant to confer PSG status on either police informants or their families. Lespinasse v. Holder, 408 F. App x 455 (2d Cir. 2011); Soriano v. Holder, 569 F.3d 1162 (9th Cir. 2009); Matter of C-A-, 23 I&N Dec. 951, (BIA 2006), aff d, Castillo-Arias v. U.S. Att y Gen., 446 F.3d 1190 (11th Cir. 2006). One difficulty in such cases is distinguishing whether persecution has occurred or been threatened on account of one s membership in the group or is simply motivated by revenge, seeking to punish a victim for his actions, not his status as a member of the putative group. The Fifth Circuit, in Demiraj, concluded that threats against the family of a material witness in the United States prosecution of one Bedini, a fellow Albanian allegedly engaged in human trafficking, fell into the category of revenge. The crucial finding here is that the record discloses no evidence that Mrs. Demiraj would be targeted for her membership in the Demiraj family as such. Rather, the evidence strongly suggests that Mrs. Demiraj, her son, and Mr. Demiraj s nieces were targeted because they are people who are important to Mr. Demiraj that is, because hurting them would hurt Mr. Demiraj. No one suggests that distant members of the Demiraj family have been systematically targeted as would be the case if, for example, a persecutor sought to terminate a line of dynastic succession. Nor does the record suggest that the fact of Mr. and Mrs. Demiraj s marriage and formal inclusion in the Demiraj family matters to Bedini; that is, Mrs. Demiraj would not be any safer in Albania if she divorced Mr. Demiraj and renounced membership in the family, nor would she be any safer if she were Mr. Demiraj s girlfriend of many years rather than his wife. The record here discloses a quintessentially personal motivation, not one based on a prohibited reason under the INA. Demiraj, 631 F.3d at 199. Defining a PSG has long been a matter of contention; it will remain so, dependent largely on the respective views of the circuits on the particularity and social visibility standards that have evolved in recent board jurisprudence. Which happens to be the focus of this year s Number So c i a l Visibility a n d Pa rt i c u l a r i t y Ta k e a Hit, Get a Defense Valdiviezo-Galdamez v. Attorney General of U.S., No , 2011 WL (3d Cir. Nov. 8, 2011); Rivera Barrientos v. Holder, 658 F.3d 1222 (10th Cir. 2011); Lizama v. Holder, 629 F.3d 440 (4th Cir. 2011): The Third Circuit s decision in Valdiviezo-Galdamez is uncommonly long, resulting largely from its effort to recount the historical development of the term particular social group as a protected characteristic in the definition of refugee, both internationally and domestically. Valdiviezo-Galdamez, 2011 WL at *8-16. The court s conclusions, however, were relatively straightforward: 1. the social visibility standard constitutes an unwarranted departure from the standards set forth in Matter of Acosta, 19 I&N Dec. 211 (BIA 1985), for defining a PSG, because, inter alia, many groups recognized under Acosta would flunk the social visibility standard; 2. the government s defense of the social visibility standard as not requiring on-sight visibility is disingenuous, and the standard would thus make it more difficult for members of threatened groups who aim to minimize their visibility to obtain asylum; and 3. the particularity standard is indistinguishable from that of social visibility and suffers from the same infirmities. See id. at * Valdiviezo-Galdamez relied heavily on the Seventh Circuit rulings critical of the board s allegedly new standards. Id. at *18-20; Gatimi v. Holder, 578 F.3d 611 (7th Cir. 2009); Benitez Ramos v. Holder, 589 F.3d 426 (7th Cir. 2009); see also Edward R. Grant, Disparity? Or Diversity? Contested Issues in Asylum Law, Im m i g r a t i o n La w Ad v i s o r, Vol. 3, No. 9, at 5, (Sept. 2009). Relegated to a footnote were citations to five circuits that have approved of, and accorded Chevron deference to, the social visibility requirement. Valdiviezo- Galdamez, 2011 WL , at *17 n.16. No mention was made to Rivera Barrientos or Lizama, which brings to seven the number of circuits that have explicitly endorsed or deferred to the board s standard. (To complete the circuit picture, the Sixth Circuit apparently still employs an Acostabased approach and has favorably cited Gatimi and Benitez Ramos, although it has not specifically considered or rejected the criteria of particularity and social visibility. Urbina-Mejia v. Holder, 597 F.3d 360, (6th Cir. 2010). The Fifth Circuit has not addressed the question.) Valdiviezo-Galdamez and Rivera Barrientos present a notable contrast, because they differ not merely in ultimate Top Twenty continued on page 16 Winter

16 Top Twenty continued from page 15 result, but on whether social visibility and particularity are distinct criteria. The Third Circuit s assessment concluded that the two criteria appear to be different articulations of the same concept and the government s attempt to distinguish the two oscillates between confusion and obfuscation, while at times both confusing and obfuscating. Indeed Particularity appears to be little more than a reworked definition of social visibility and the former suffers from the same infirmity as the latter. Valdiviezo-Galdamez, 2011 WL , at *22. Rivera Barrientos, in contrast, applied both criteria to address whether the putative social group of women in El Salvador between the ages of 12 and 25 who resisted gang recruitment was cognizable under the act. Rivera Barrientos, 658 F.3d at Neither particularly nor social visibility run counter to the act, the court held, rejecting arguments of the petitioner and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, as amicus. [T]he particularity requirement flows quite naturally from the language of the statute, which, of course, specifically refers to membership in a particular social group. Id. at As a matter of logic, the court held, it is reasonable to limit cognizable social groups to those that are defined with some specificity, so as to discourage amorphous definitions. Id. The court disagreed with the board, however, that the proposed group could not be defined with particularity. While broadly defined in other respects, the specific trait of having resisted gang recruitment is not so vague. A discrete class of young persons sharing the past experience of having resisted gang recruitment can be a particularly defined trait. Id. at Turning to social visibility, Rivera Barrientos rejected the Gatimi/Benitez Ramos interpretation, i.e., that the board has effectively required on-sight visibility. See Benitez Ramos, 589 F.3d at 430 (stating that social visibility means that an alien can be a member of the group only if a complete stranger encountering him on the street would identify him as a group member). [W]e see no need, the Tenth Circuit stated, to interpret social visibility as demanding the relevant trait be visually or otherwise easily identified. The BIA decision adopting this test does not appear to contemplate such a narrow definition. Rivera Barrientos, 658 F.3d at 1233 (citing Matter of C-A-, 23 I&N Dec. 951). Also in sharp contrast to Gatimi, Rivera Barrientos, and, later, Valdiviezo-Galdamez, the Tenth Circuit accepted the board s characterization of the social visibility test as embracing such previously recognized Acosta-standard groups, including those with kinship ties, former police officers, and tribal opponents of female genital mutilation. Rivera Barrientos, 658 F.3d at The court agreed with the board that, absent evidence that Salvadoran society considers young women who have resisted gang recruitment to be a distinct social group, the social visibility standard could not be met. Id. at With the score now 7-2 (and only 11 points can be scored) in favor of deference, the Tenth Circuit appears to have adopted the position that the board has not required on-sight visibility for an individual to be socially visible and therefore a member of a particular social group., The Seventh and Third Circuits presumed that the board must do so because, on their interpretation, that is what visibility must mean. Both courts dismissed as risible arguments that social visibility focuses on the perception of civil society, not an anonymous, isolated man on the street. The Tenth Circuit accepted the board s statements that this is what it meant by the term; the true test, it implied, is whether the board follows that meaning, or in a particular case, employs either social visibility or particularity to unduly restrict the concept of particular social group. Valdiviezo-Galdamez did not purport to end the discussion rather, it remanded to the board for further explanation of how the new standards for defining a PSG are consistent with Matter of Acosta, or whether those standards are intended to replace Acosta. Rivera Barrientos, not considered by the Third Circuit, may answer those questions. 3. Silva -Trevino A Step (Three) Too Far? Fajardo v. U.S. Attorney General, 659 F.3d 1303 (11th Cir. 2011): Fajardo, dissected in last month s edition, adds to the small consensus that the attorney general went a step too far in Matter of Silva-Trevino, 24 I&N Dec. 687 (A.G. 2008), in permitting recourse to documents outside the formal record of conviction to determine whether an alien has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude. Edward R. Grant and Patricia M. Allen, The Heart of Silva-Trevino: Still Beating?, Im m i g r a t i o n La w Ad v i s o r, Vol. 5, No. 9, at 6 (Oct. 2011). As noted, the Fourth Circuit is expected to rule shortly on the question, and it is difficult to believe that other circuits will not join the discussion in The Missing Element Test Goes Missing United States v. Aguila-Montes de Oca, 655 F.3d 915 (9th Cir. 2011): Notwithstanding its potential merit in advancing the jurisprudence of the modified categorical approach, Aguila-Montes de Oca demonstrates why fans sometimes do not desire a rematch. (Listening, BCS?) The decision overruled, Navarro-Lopez v. Gonzales, 503 F.3d 1063 (9th Cir. 2007) (en banc), had all the attributes of a football game decided 9-6 in overtime. The panel split 6-5, and only one judge, the author, agreed with the entirety of the opinion of the court. The rule that emerged that a statute of conviction may be deemed divisible only if it includes a specific element that could match it to a generic deportable offense, id. at 1073 was unworkable. The game was played again in Aguila-Montes de Oca, with a different result, but again with only 2 judges out of 11 agreeing in full with the opinion of the court. The key details have been addressed in these pages, but as indicated, deeper analysis of how Aguila-Montes de Oca alters 16 The Green Card

17 the landscape of the modified categorical approach is warranted and forthcoming. See Grant and Allen, When Cousins Are Two of a Kind, supra at The Ninth Circuit did, at year s end, add a coda to clarify whether a violation of section 459 of the California Penal Code for burglary of a dwelling can ever constitute a categorical aggravated felony. The answer is yes: such an offense is a categorical crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. 16(b) and thus, when coupled with a 1-year sentence, an aggravated felony under section 101(a)(43)(F) of the act. Lopez-Cardona, No , 2011 WL (9th Cir. Nov. 18, 2011). 1. Co m pa r a b l e Gro u n d Test f o r Se c t i o n 212(c) Ar b i t r a ry and Capricious Judulang v. Holder, No , 2011 WL (U.S. Dec. 12, 2011): Fifteen years after its repeal, and 10 years after what we all assumed was the Supreme Court s last word on the subject, the world of adjudicating applications for relief under section 212(c) of the act is back in play, thanks to the High Court s season-ending shutout (9-0) decision in Judulang. See INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 (2001). Aliens formerly ineligible for section 212(c) relief under the comparable ground standard set forth in board precedents will now be eligible. See Matter of Brieva, 23 I&N Dec. 766 (BIA 2005); Matter of Blake, 22 I&N Dec. 722 (BIA 2005). Moreover, the Court established a new interpretation of the scope of section 212(c) relief and also required that exercise of the board s statutory gap-filling function must be tied, even if loosely, to the purposes of the immi gration laws or the appropriate operation of the immigra tion system. Judulang, 2011 WL , at *8. The Court concluded that Blake and Brieva constituted arbitrary and capricious agency action in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. Id. at *3. Concluding after a brief history of section 212(c) and its application to deportation proceedings that the comparable ground approach was of relatively recent vintage, Justice Kagan s decision excoriated the standard for producing anomalous results. By hinging a de portable alien s eligibility for discretionary relief on the chance correspondence between statutory categories a matter irrelevant to the alien s fitness to reside in this country the BIA has failed to exercise its discretion in a reasoned manner. Id. at *7. If petitioner Judulang (previously convicted by guilty plea of voluntary manslaughter) were seeking entry into the United States, the Court found, he would be eligible to apply for section 212(c) relief because his conviction would fall under the exclusion ground for a crime involving moral turpitude; he would not be chargeable as an aggravated felon under section 237(a)(2)(A)(iii) of the act. The Court declined to resolve the petitioner s lead argument that any distinction between excludable and deportable aliens in regard to section 212(c) eligibility is impermissible. But, comparing the comparable ground rule to flipping a coin, the Court determined that the rule failed to be based on non-arbitrary, relevant factors. Id. at *8 (quoting Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass n of U.S. Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43 (1983)). Critical to understanding the Court s ruling is that it considered the comparable ground standard as something untethered to the text of the act a point discussed in more detail below. Rather, it viewed the rule simply as a limitation on discretionary eligibility a point made clear in this passage: The problem with the comparable-grounds policy is that it does not impose such a reasonable limitation. Rather than considering factors that might be thought germane to the deportation decision, that policy hinges 212(c) eligi bility on an irrelevant comparison between statutory provisions. Recall that the BIA asks whether the set of offenses in a particular deportation ground lines up with the set in an exclusion ground. But so what if it does? Does an alien charged with a particular deportation ground become more worthy of relief because that ground happens to match up with another? Or less worthy of relief because the ground does not? The comparison in no way changes the alien s prior offense or his other attrib utes and circumstances. So it is difficult to see why that comparison should matter. Each of these statutory grounds contains a slew of offenses. Whether each con tains the same slew has nothing to do with whether a deportable alien whose prior conviction falls within both grounds merits the ability to seek a waiver. Id. The Court also noted the conundrum of an alien who would be excludable (and thus section 212(c) eligible) for committing the turpitudinous offense of sexual abuse of a minor, but not if charged as a deportable aggravated felon for the same offense. Such distinctions make no sense, the Court concluded, because they may rest on the happenstance of an immigration official s charging decision, id. at *9; were the alien charged only under the moral turpitude ground of deportation, there would be a comparable ground under 212(a) of the act. Such potential arbitrary results clearly drove the Court s decision, as well as its disregard for the government s arguments in defense of Blake and Brieva. It is safe to say that the Court, while acknowledging the difficulty of drawing rules for the application of section 212(c) to matters (deportation proceedings) Congress did not clearly intend, considered this not at all a close case. The key jurisprudential maneuver is that the comparable ground rule had nothing to do with the fact, generally assumed for decades, that [f]ormer section 212(c) of the Act provided for a discretionary waiver of certain grounds of inadmissibility under 212(a) of the act for aliens, lawfully admitted for permanent residence, who met other standards of eligibility. Matter of Blake, 23 I&N Dec. at 724; see also Matter of Gordon, 20 I&N Dec, 52, 54, 55 (BIA 1989) (referring to waiver of inadmissibility under 212(c)). The comparable ground rule, at its heart, is that in order to be waived, a ground of deportability must bear connection to a ground of inadmissibility that is waivable under 212(c). Judulang flatly rejects this historical understanding of Top Twenty continued on page 18 Winter

18 Top Twenty continued from page (c), calling it an inaccurate description of the statute. Judulang, 2011 WL , at *11. Section 212(c) states that certain aliens may be admitted in the discretion of the Attorney General as long as they are not inadmissible under specified grounds of national security and child abduction. Id. At that point, the alien is eligible for relief, and the thing the Attorney Gen eral waives is not a particular exclusion ground, but the simple denial of entry. Id. (emphasis added). Board precedent has stated that a grant of 212(c) relief does not waive the crime or offense underlying the ground of inadmissibility, but that it does waive the ground of inadmissibility (or deportability) itself, meaning that the charge cannot be again brought. Matter of Balderas, 20 I&N Dec. 389, 391 (BIA 1991) (stating that a section 212(c) grant waives the finding of excludability or deportability; but a single crime waived under section 212(c) can form the basis for a subsequent charge of commission of two crimes involving moral turpitude). Alternatively, the Court concluded that even if 212(c) were regarded as a waiver of inadmissibility, the comparable grounds approach has no foundation in the statute. That is because 212(c) simply has nothing to do with deportation: The provision was not meant to interact with the statutory grounds for deportation, any more than those grounds were designed to interact with the provision. Rather, 212(c) refers solely to exclusion decisions; its extension to deportation cases arose from the agency s extra-textual view that some similar relief should be available in that context to avoid unreasonable distinctions. Judulang, 2011 WL , at *11. To which one might say no good deed, indeed, goes unpunished. While the Court did not foreclose further attempts to limit the availability of 212(c) to aliens charged with deportation grounds, it offered no hint what an acceptable rule would include. Nor while this issue will require sorting out does the Court s language indicate that its ruling would apply only to new or pending cases. Motions will inevitably follow. Conclusion And a Plus One The year past settled some old scores and opened some new points of conflict. Once again, the Ninth Circuit appeared to dominate the rankings, but like it or not, it is the SEC of immigration law. The Supreme Court will be heard from again, in no less than four immigration-related decisions, all previewed in these pages, plus the decision involving the constitutionality of the Arizona immigration enforcement statute. See Gutierrez v. Holder, 411 F. App x 121 (9th Cir.), cert. granted, 132 S. Ct. 71 (2011); Sawyers v. Holder, 399 F. App x 313 (9th Cir. 2010), cert. granted, 132 S. Ct. 71 (2011); Vartelas v. Holder, 620 F.3d 108 (2d Cir. 2010), cert. granted, 132 S. Ct. 70 (2011); Kawashima v. Holder, 615 F.3d 1043 (9th Cir. 2010), cert. granted in part, 131 S. Ct (2011); see also Edward R. Grant and Joshua A. Altman, Déjà Vu All Over Again: SCOTUS Takes Up Imputation and Retroactivity, Im m i g r a t i o n La w Ad v i s o r, Vol. 5, No. 8, at 10 (Sept. 2011); Edward R. Grant, Fruit or Vegetable? Supreme Court To Decide if Tax Fraud is Fraud Under Section 101(a)(43)(M)(i) of the Act, Im m i g r a t i o n La w Ad v i s o r, Vol. 5, No. 5 (May-June 2011). All in all, 2012 shapes up to be a very significant year in immigration jurisprudence. But among all the dusty analysis of legal issues, it is often the unheralded, even unpublished, circuit court decision that catches our eye particularly those with a clear human element. Such it is with our initial nomination for Number 1 for 2011 before it was preempted by Judulang Skokos v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 420 F. App x 712 (9th Cir. 2011). Skosos sought immigrant status as an alien of extraordinary ability under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(1)(A); unfortunately, he failed to establish that he had made original contributions having a major significance in his field of endeavor or that he commanded a high salary compared to others in his field. See, e.g., Grimson v. INS, 934 F. Supp. 965 (N.D. Ill. 1996) (considering a National Hockey League enforcer s salary versus other NHL players). Skokos tried, but failed, to persuade the DHS or the courts that his was not a pedestrian career, but one of a high-level consultant, supervising others, making arrangements in foreign countries, and ensuring that his duties were covered on a 24-hour basis. The Ninth Circuit was not persuaded. Apparently, being the security consultant for Celine Dion did not qualify Skokos as an alien of extraordinary ability. Perhaps his problem was a comparative lack of muscle in performing his duties. After all, back in 1996, Stu Grimson of the Detroit Red Wings satisfied the district court in Chicago of his unquestioned ability as an enforcer, and the premium salary that skill commanded. Grimson, 934 F. Supp. at 969. No doubt energized by his victory in court, Grimson s career as an enforcer blossomed, marked by epic on-ice fisticuffs with the late Robert Probert, himself the plaintiff in a landmark case on detention of criminal aliens. Probert v. INS, 954 F.2d 1253 (6th Cir. 1992). But Grimson was no one-dimensional man, and far calmer off the ice than his antagonist Probert: married, father to four children, leader (!) of the NHL s Christian Fellowship, and, currently, a practicing lawyer in Nashville. One might say, a model immigrant. u Edward R. Grant is a member of the Board of Immigration Appeals. This article was reprinted from the Immigration Law Advisor Vol. 5 #10. The Immigration Law Advisor is a professional newsletter of the Executive Office for Immigration Review ( EOIR ) that is intended solely as an educational resource to disseminate information on developments in immigration law pertinent to the Immigration Courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals. Any views expressed are those of the author and do not represent the positions of EOIR, the Department of Justice, the Attorney General, or the U.S. Government. This publication contains no legal advice and may not be construed to create or limit any rights enforceable by law. EOIR will not answer questions concerning the publication s content or how it may pertain to any individual case. Guidance concerning proceedings before EOIR may be found in the Immigration Court Practice Manual and/or the Board of Immigration Appeals Practice Manual. 18 The Green Card

19 Problem continued from page 6 In other words, it would fulfill some of the functions of a large employer in terms of quality control. Another issue for immigration lawyers (which I believe is changing) is that immigration law was not considered a very prestigious practice area. This means that top-notch attorneys and law students have generally not been attracted to this field (obviously there are many exceptions). One reflection of this problem is the absence of academic journals related to immigration law. When I was a law student in the 1990s, I was on the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal. Even today, that journal bills itself as the only student-edited law journal devoted exclusively to the study of immigration law. Given the growing popularity of immigration law and the important ways it affects people s lives I am hopeful that the practice of immigration law will become more respected and that we will see more law school journals devoted to the subject. A related issue is that until relatively recently, law schools offered very limited (or no) classes about immigration law. Over the last five or 10 years, this situation has begun to change pretty dramatically. Now, students interested in immigration law can take a number of relevant classes at most law schools. Also, law school clinics where students represent asylum seekers and others in immigration court have become quite popular. These increased educational opportunities will, I think, help improve the quality of attorneys practicing immigration law. Finally, since many immigrant clients are unfamiliar with the American legal system, they are often poor advocates for themselves and require extra help from their attorneys. They are also particularly vulnerable to unscrupulous lawyers. This means that perhaps the field of immigration law attracts people who would take advantage of others. An analogous (though largely anecdotal) situation involves a 1998 study of disbarred attorneys in Michigan. The study (of only 16 attorneys) found that the practice area with the most disbarred attorneys was probate law. The combination of estate funds and often older clients apparently proved irresistible to several former attorneys, the report speculates. In other words, easy money and vulnerable clients attract unscrupulous lawyers. In the immigration context, a mandatory bar association would help mitigate this problem. I would like to conclude this series on an optimistic note. I think immigration lawyers are getting better. The field is becoming more prestigious and is attracting the best and brightest law school graduates. Also, immigrants are becoming more sophisticated and better able to protect themselves. Hopefully, all this will lead to better representation for people in Immigration Court. u Prosecutorial Discretion continued from page 7 specified that in cases where relief is available, ICE counsel should consider accepting proffers or stipulating to eligibility for relief or certain requirements. She stated that counsel should ensure that they are using the criteria from the June memo fully, and not just the more specific guidance from the November criteria. She questioned where review of the detained docket was taking place, and encouraged a government role in reaching out to pro se respondents to explain prosecutorial discretion options. Williams commended the tremendous communication that has occurred between trial attorneys and respondents counsel thus far. She discussed the importance of focusing public relations efforts on clarifying that this is not an amnesty or benefit program so as to avoid vulnerable individuals being defrauded by notarios and promises of amnesty. Williams described seeing a tremendous bump in the number of offers of prosecutorial discretion once files have been supplemented, and again highlighted that pro se respondents would not likely know how or be able to supplement their files. She stated that anecdotal reports reflect that the number of NTAs filed is down markedly, and commended USCIS s memorandum on NTA issuance as being a simple act with a great impact. She stated that CBP is still bringing in a lot of non-priority cases, and noted that this might be an act of rebelliousness within CBP as there has been an increase in cases. Williams underscored the importance of DHS considering employment authorization for administratively closed cases. She noted that USCIS has the discretionary authority to entertain these applications and that there are no statutory bars, and suggested that limitations be drawn including a cut-off date so that people do not use the availability of employment authorization as a reason to get themselves into removal proceedings. In regard to pro se respondents, Williams agreed that a special master calendar hearing for pro se detainees would be beneficial and would enable the private bar to be of assistance. During the discussion, Stolley reminded the participants that prosecutorial discretion is not a benefit-oriented program, and that trial attorneys do not have the authority to offer deferred action, so administrative closure is the best way for the agency to proceed. He stated that although review of the detained docket was taking place nationwide, very few offers of prosecutorial discretion were being made because very few people on the detained docket are eligible. He stated that ICE offices that follow a unit prosecution system which allows for a trial attorney to stay with a given case through the various hearings allows for more focused prosecution, narrowing of issues, some stipulation, and improved decisions on whether to take appeal. He stated that a review of cases before the BIA began three weeks prior to the date of the panel (end of January 2012). The panelists indicated that OIL had been working with ICE to review the federal circuit court cases. Grossman indicated that the prosecutorial discretion program will continue to be a case-by-case program, and will not become a categorical program for groups of respondents, such as those who are DREAM-Act eligible. He stated that DHS views Secure Communities as one of the best tools for identifying cases that are enforcement priorities and reasserted that it will be deployed nationwide by He stated that there have been no numbers reflecting results of the change on the detainer form. In discussing employment authorization, Grossman stated that USCIS will continue to consider requests on a case by case basis. u Winter

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